Thursday, March 29, 2012

NerdLacquer - Holy Grail

First of all, I HAD to buy this NerdLacquer... It wasn't a question. There are a number of reasons, the two main ones being:

1- Just read Amanda's description: HOLY GRAIL is a super-fine-grained satiny linear holo in a dusty blue-green base with silver microglitter, medium blue-green iridescent glitter, and a liberal sprinkling of big square and hexagonal silver holo glitter. Oh, also? GLOWS IN THE DAMN DARK. I dare you to say no to that!!! In fact, I triple-dog-dare you!

2- And don't laugh at me - Monty Python and the Holy Grail is my favorite movie of all-time. It is hilarious. I even saw it in the theaters when they digitally re-released it in a limited number of theaters when I was in high school. I blame my mama, it is all her fault!

Here is the beauty in all her glory!


It just makes me so happy!! You can see the holo pretty well on my ring finger. It is a bit difficult to capture on camera. Trust me, it's a-mazing in person!


This is in the shade... you can really see the glitter in this picture.


Here's a close-up on the bottle. :::::SWOON:::::

If you couldn't already tell, I love this polish. I would marry it if it were allowed (and my husband wouldn't be upset haha). It only took two coats to get this coverage, and the formula was really nice to work with. This is my first indie polish; I can tell you it wont be my last!

Let's see, now I just need Purely Logical, Warrior Ethos, It's Just a Flesh Wound, Nebula... I can't stop. I need to win the lottery!! Lol

I am less than 20 likes away from my first giveaway on my Facebook page. When I hit 100 I'm going to be giving away a Cinderella, along with two other polishes! I know you want a Cinderella, don't deny it   ;p

Do you own any NerdLacquer polishes?

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

FingerPaints - Gumdrops & Lollipops Collection Review

I was lucky enough to win the Gumdrops & Lollipops collection from FingerPaint's Facebook page a couple of weeks ago. I was so excited when they arrived because they are so bright and cheery! Just great for summer!

I am not usually a pastel fan... and I tend to go for shimmers and glitters over creams... but I adore this collection! There are four creams and two shimmers. Let's get to the swatches!


Pop Rock Pink: I swoon for this one! The formula is a little watery... this is 3 coats. It probably could use 4. I did have a little problem with cuticle flooding on the first nail, but I got used to it and didn't have another problem.


Circus Peanuts: I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I am definitely not a peach person, and this is a very "peachy" cream. Once again, I had a bit of an issue with flooding, but this formula was easier to work with than Pop Rock Pink. This is two coats.


Lemon Sour: Great summer color. Not much to say. It didn't blow my mind, but I did enjoy it! This is two coats.


Choco Mint: This is a beautiful mint green. Surprisingly enough, I do not really have any mint greens in my collection... I'm not sure why! This makes a very nice addition. Again, two coats were applied.


Blue Raspberry Tart: I have one thing to say to you. BASE COAT BASE COAT BASE COAT! I had it on for literally 5 minutes without a base, and it stained my nail and cuticles to the max. I am REALLY glad I swatched this last or I would've had smurf cuticles for the rest of the swatches! Hahaha... Anyways, the color is very neon and bright. It's a lot of fun! This is my best friends favorite of the collection (of course, she wasn't the one with smurf cuticles :p). This is 2 coats.


Grape Gumball: This is my favorite of the collection. It is a spunky purple with just the right amount of shimmer! It applied like a dream and was perfect in two coats.

I enjoyed this collection very much. Other than the watery formula (which I have found with most of my FingerPaints), it is definitely a worthwhile collection to add to your hoard. Did I say hoard? I meant very reasonable collection of nail polishes ;)

Don't forget to check out my Facebook Page! In 40 more likes I am having a giveaway!!

What do you think of the collection? Are you going to go get any of them for yourself?

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Anise Grape Escape

Hello again my lacquer addicted friends :)

I won this polish from the always amazing Jess over at Love for Lacquer. I couldn't wait to give it a try when I got it in the mail!

Anise Grape Escape - Direct Sunlight
Please forgive the tip wear. I wore it for two days before I finally got the opportunity to take a picture!

Anise Grape Escape - Shade
This was my first time using this brand, and I found the formula very easy to work with. I especially  love the color. It is so bright and just speaks "Spring" to me! This is two coats of Grape Escape with a Seche Vite top coat. I probably could have done a third coat, but I was fine with the coverage on two.


You are going to find that I lean towards shimmers and glitters, so I couldn't help but make this polish shine with a beautiful, flaky overlay ;)

Anise Grape Escape w/China Glaze Luxe and Lush - Shade
Wowza! This combo made my heart melt!!

Anise is available at DSW. They have some gorgeous colors. I think I am going to have to pic some more up!! Thanks Jess! You are the rock star of giveaways!!


Have you ever tried an Anise polish?

Monday, March 19, 2012

Julep Maven Box - March

First of all, I want to thank everyone for the kind welcome into the nail blogging community! I never imagined I would get so many Facebook likes in such a short time! Keep the likes coming, because when I hit 100 likes I'm going to have a small giveaway. Funds are a bit tight right now, so it wont be anything huge, but free polish is always good... right? :)

I hope you had a fun and safe St. Paddy's day. And even more so, I hope one of you painted your own Lucky Leprechauns on your nails!

Now, onto the point of the post!! I signed up to be a Julep Maven, because who can say no to a $.01 deal! The deal is still going on, just go to the Julep Maven site (here) and enter promocode SHAREONMARCH when checking out!

This is what the box looks like when you get it in the mail.






I selected the Bombshell box this month.





It comes nicely wrapped up in pretty lavender tissue paper.


These are the goodies I got!!





For $.01, I got $43 worth of product! How can you go wrong?! I got Natalie, Sofia and the Julep Hand Scrub. I enjoy the hand scrub, it definitely softened my hands up. Is it worth $15 for this little bottle? I guess that depends on your budget! Haha

I swatched Natalie and Sofia for you quickly this evening. We actually got some rain here in the desert, so I had to try to catch the sun in a hurry when it peeked out of the clouds.





Meet Natalie, in the direct sunlight. This is two coats, no top coat.





And her in the shade in natural light. She is a very pretty orange cream. It would need 3 coats to be opaque with no streaks. The formula was a bit watery and tried to flood my cuticles; but once you get use to how much to leave on the brush, it wasn't a big problem. And I loved the color enough to not care! :)


This is Sofia, two coats, no top coat. She is barely visible in the direct sunlight.





You can see her green hue in the shade. She would be best for layering (and I will probably be doing it soon, since she is a perfect Easter color, in my opinion). I really enjoyed her sparkle, I wish you could see it in the pictures! The formula was absolutely lovely to work with... not to thick, not too thin.

Are you a Julep Maven? What are your favorite Julep girls?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Tutorial - Lucky Leprechaun Nails

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Hello and welcome to my first blog post!! Friends, family and, most importantly, my husband have been telling me for months that I need to start a nail blog to showcase some of the nail art I create... and I finally took the plunge!

A couple things:
> I only do my nails once a week (I know, I know... that's not a lot for some of you nail bloggers out there). The main reason for this is because I don't like to be wasteful and my nails can be a little picky about going overboard on chemicals. Expect my posts to show up every Thursday night. This may change eventually, especially if I get bigger and have the opportunity to do reviews.
> You will also notice a lot of broken nails. It's not because my nails are super weak or brittle... It's more because I am REALLY hard on them. I don't know if it has something to do with being a tomboy most of my life or what... but I just can't help it. I beat the crap-ola out of them lol. I like to keep them at a shorter length to limit breaks. (Luckily there were no breaks for my first post!)

I don't always go crazy with my designs... I promise to try and get a crazy design with a tutorial once a month. The rest of the weeks I will be swatching and reviewing different colors and brands. But, I have to start with a bang, right?!

Without further ado, meet my Lucky Leprechaun!


Supplies used:


Orly Rubberized Base Coat
1 - China Glaze Agro (Capitol Colors Collection)
2 - China Glaze Riveting (Capitol Colors Collection)
3 - China Glaze Champagne Bubbles (Holiday 2011 Collection)
4 - Nina Ultra Pro Black
5 - Orly Beverly Hills Plum
Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
Black Striper
White Striper
Small Brush (or orange striper)
Dotting Tool
Tape
Re-enforcement stickers

Please don't mind the poor photos during the tutorial steps. I do my nails in the living room and we don't have a lot of direct light in here for pics. Also, I am a messy painter. I paint my nails at night and usually wait until my shower the next morning to let the shower do the cuticle clean up. So excuse my messy cuticles during tutorials.


I started off taping the top part of my ring fingers (to create the hat), applied my base coat on all nails and painted all of my fingers with Agro and my thumb with Champagne Bubbles (2 coats).


Remove the tape and paint the base coat on the bottom half of your ring finger (if you try to paint your whole finger with the base and then tape it the base will peel off with the tape... or at least mine does! haha). Paint Orly Beverly Hills Plum (a very sheer pink) on the bottom part as well, to make a nice, even flesh tone for your little leprechaun's face. Place a drop of Riveting on your foil, and use a nail art brush (or if you are like me, and have yet to buy a brush set, an orange striper with the orange paint brushed off as much as possible) to create his sideburns. Try your best to square up with his hat, but it doesn't have to be perfect.


Finish off the bottom with a few swipes of the Riveting to create his beard. You could also use a dotting tool to get a different effect; if you so choose.


Now, use you dotting tool to create little eyes and a black striper to make a little nose and mouth. I gave him a little crooked smile... Isn't he adorable?!


Use a black striper to create a band across his hat; once that is dry use a dotting tool with Champagne Bubbles to create a little gold buckle.


Once the Champagne Bubbles on your thumb is COMPLETELY dry (very important that it is 100% dry or you will mess it up!), place half of a re-enforcement circle at the base of your nail. Paint your thumbs with black to create the pot.


Create a shimmer on the bottom of you Gold pot using a white striper. I also used my dotting tool to swirl some Champagne Bubbles on the top for more texture. This is optional, it gives it a more 3D appearance.

I used a striper to add a Champagne Bubbles diagonal line to the three remaining nails; just to make things more interesting!

Once everything has a nice drying time (at least 15 minutes - you don't want to smudge it after all of this work) put on your top coat and admire your hard work and cute little leprechaun!


I hope you enjoyed my first post. My one main goal with starting this blog is to inspire those who think they can't do nail art to give it a try! All nail artists start out somewhere :)

I'd love to hear your feedback with comments! Also, like my page on Facebook for updates and possible milestone giveaways down the road. If you give this design a try, you have to stop by and share a picture of your creation!


 What did you do with your nails for St. Paddy's Day?? Did you find my tutorial easy to follow??